About the centre
The Heritage Connections Group (HCG) is a collaborative research initiative dedicated to strengthening links between the cultural heritage sector and higher education. Bringing together expertise from Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM) and the University of Westminster, HCG recognises that university and cultural sector practitioners each contribute valuable and complementary forms of knowledge. HCG also looks to reach beyond traditional institutions to explore informal, community-led and individual forms of creative and heritage practice. By fostering dialogue across these communities, HCG advances innovative research into contemporary and historical intersections between the cultural, creative, and academic sectors.
People
The co-leads of this research group are:
Doctoral Research
HCG coordinates Westminster’s PhD programme in Museums, Galleries and Heritage Studies, a rigorous, ambitious and outward-looking doctoral training pathway with strong links to local, national and international heritage and cultural organisations. Our doctoral researchers thrive in an ambitious and supportive research environment, benefiting from tailored supervision and developing the intellectual and professional skills needed to realise their research ambitions and to contribute to the future of the sector.
These relationships are reflected in HCG’s supervision of Collaborative Doctoral Awards (CDAs) in partnership with Imperial War Museums, London Transport Museum, Museum of the Home, The National Gallery, National Science and Media Museum, National Railway Museum, and Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), bringing doctoral researchers into sustained collaboration with leading museum and heritage organisations.
Projects
- AHRC-funded Research Network: Building Heritage Infrastructure: Community, Locality, and Materiality in the Museum Storeroom
- BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grant: The Photographic Darkroom in the Northern Transatlantic World
Initiatives
- Course (January-March 2027): Behind the Scene: How The Photographers' Gallery Works, run in collaboration with The Photographers' Gallery. The course looks at what it means to present photography to contemporary audiences.
- Conference (January 2027): Reimagining Research, organised in collaboration with London Museum and ICOM cities. The event focuses on how city museums can lead urban research.
- Roundtable (March 2024): Researchers in Conversation: Re-Imagning Cross-Sector Collaborations, organised in collaboration with the Museum of London.
- Conference (June 2023): In the Photographic Darkroom, supported by a Westminster Researcher Development Award.